Chinanews.com client, Beijing, August 18 (Zhang Xu) At the end of July, Ideal Auto became the second Chinese automaker to be listed in the United States after NIO. On August 8, Xiaopeng Motors also formally submitted IPO documents to the US Securities Regulatory Commission. However, the two companies soon became headlines because of their cars caught fire.
It is worth noting that Weilai, the first new car maker to go public, was caught in a fire accident and had to be recalled. Why are cars of new forces unavoidably "hot"? Can you buy a car from a new force?
Ideal car, caught fire twice in three months
On May 8, 2020, an Ideal ONE was on the streets of Changsha, Hunan. The hood caught fire. After the open flame was extinguished, the front face and front cover of the vehicle were almost completely destroyed. The survey results announced by Ideal Motors showed that the staff left a car paint protection pad in the front cabin where the range extender was located and was ignited by high temperature.
Ideal car issued an accident statement.
On July 30, Ideal Auto was listed on the Nasdaq. A week later, the ideal car "fired" again. On August 6, in the direction of Sihui and Lianzhou, Erguang Expressway, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, an Ideal ONE caught fire during driving, which once again attracted attention.
The relevant video and data at the time of the vehicle accident showed that at 16:08:54, a suspected iron piece of about 20 cm in length appeared in front of the vehicle and then entered the bottom of the vehicle. At this time, the speed of the vehicle was 115 km/h. ; At 16:08:59, the fuel line pressure dropped abnormally; at 16:09:06, the driver pulled over and stopped and the vehicle caught fire.
“According to cloud monitoring data, after the accident, there was no abnormality in the battery and range extender.” Ideal Motors said on August 7. “The cause of the accident was initially judged to be that an object suspected of being an iron piece was rolled up by a high-speed vehicle. It pierced the high-pressure fuel pipe, causing fuel to splash and ignited by the high temperature of the exhaust pipe."
There were two fires in three months, which made the ideal car that had just been launched "a lot of pressure" and also made consumers hesitate. "If the iron sheet cuts through the high-pressure oil pipe, it means that the chassis lacks a protective plate and the protection is not in place." Some automotive engineers think so.
The ideal car APP community users leave a message.
In fact, it is not the first time that Ideal ONE has been involved in foreign objects because there is no chassis guard. Chinanews.com noticed that an ideal ONE car owner said in the Ideal Car App community that his vehicle had also been involved in foreign objects during driving, causing problems with the power system, and eventually the trailer drove out of high speed.
After Ideal Motors announced the cause of the accident, many car owners hoped that the officials would quickly take corresponding measures. "Can you consider installing a lower guard? You can do it at your own expense. Now because of the warranty involved, many car owners still have concerns." There is an ideal ONE car owner leaving a message.
The ideal vehicle’s response is: “The original state of the ideal ONE already has very sufficient protection for the battery pack, and the common underpinning conditions will not affect the vehicle itself.” At the same time, it is emphasized that the owner can choose whether to install it according to the needs.
After the fire of the ideal car, it also encountered some complaints from insiders. Shen Fei, vice president of NIO's power management, said that he is firmly not optimistic about program extensions. "Extended-range cars use two sets of gas and electricity systems, so the cost and complexity will increase, and the failure rate will also increase."
Ideal ONE uses front and rear dual motors. The picture comes from the ideal car website
“New energy vehicles generally do not have high-pressure fuel pipe breakdown. This is a unique problem of the ideal ONE extended program design. Ideal vehicles use two sets of gasoline-electric systems, with a 1.5T engine at the rear for power generation. If you want to improve, you need to Protect the high-pressure tubing with a high-strength casing." Zhang Xiang, an expert from the Talent Exchange Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told reporters.
Xiaopeng has a "deflagration" before going public
On August 8, Xiaopeng Motors submitted its listing. Unexpectedly, 3 days later, Xiaopeng Automobile also "fired" with the ideal car. On August 11, at the Pazhou Science and Technology Building in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, a Xiaopeng G3 car caught fire and a small deflagration occurred. The firefighters were afraid to approach the vehicle involved.
On the same day, Xiaopeng Motors responded via the official Weibo, “After the accident, the staff visited the store and found that there were obvious and serious bumps on the bottom of the battery box, which caused serious damage to the battery. The preliminary judgment was the cause of the accident. "
Xiaopeng Automobile’s explanation of the vehicle catching fire.
According to data, the G3 is equipped with a ternary lithium battery from the Ningde era, with a waterproof and dustproof level of IP68. The battery compartment adopts blocking structure and explosion-proof valve design, and Fuse protection, and the box body adopts flame-retardant structure design, which can effectively block the battery thermal runaway diffusion.
When answering user questions on the official APP, Xiaopeng Motors stated that under normal circumstances, normal driving will not cause spontaneous combustion or explosion during driving. However, it is recommended to avoid violent (excessive acceleration and deceleration) during driving.
The collision of the battery box causes combustion. Does it indicate a problem with the vehicle design? "For fire incidents, car companies must conduct strict investigations. Check the battery box shell, if the material strength and anti-damage performance meet the national standards, then it is not the responsibility of the car company; if the strength is insufficient, then the car company needs to recall the product The problem can only be solved by replacing all the shells of this batch." Zhang Xiang said.
In fact, in addition to Xiaopeng Motors and Ideal Motors, Weilai, the first new car maker to go public, was also involved in a car fire accident in 2019 and eventually launched a recall.
The domestic electric car Weilai es6. Photo by Zhang Hengwei
In 2019, in April, outside the Hengxin Audi 4S store on the East Third Ring Road in Xi’an, a Weilai ES8 parked next to the charging pile spontaneously ignited; in May, a Weilai ES8 near Anli Road, Jiading District, Shanghai suffered a fire. Smoke situation: In June, a Weilai ES8 in the parking lot of Wuhan Hanxi Building Materials Market spontaneously combusted.
In the face of successive spontaneous combustion incidents, on June 27, 2019, Weilai decided to recall 4803 ES8s and replace the battery packs for them free of charge to eliminate safety hazards.
However, whether it is the battery manufacturer Ningde era or Weilai Automobile, the attitude is "not to blame." The NIO statement pointed out that the spontaneous ES8 vehicle has a problem with the "voltage sampling harness inside the module equipped with the battery pack", and pointed the finger at the unreasonable module design; Ningde Times blamed the problem on the late matching problem of the OEM. The package box body interferes with the module structure supplied by our company."
Security, an inevitable threshold
"I was very interested in electric cars before, but I often saw electric cars catch fire. My family opposed it. I didn't dare to buy them." Mr. Gao, a citizen of Zhengzhou who recently planned to buy a car, gave up electric cars out of safety concerns. car.
The "New Energy Vehicle National Regulatory Platform Big Data Safety Supervision Achievement Report" shows that from May to August 2019, the platform found 79 new energy vehicle safety accidents involving 96 vehicles. Among the vehicles for which the cause of the fire has been identified, 58% of the vehicle fires are due to battery problems, 19% of the vehicle fires are due to collision problems, and some of the vehicle fires are due to water flooding, component failure, and use problems.
“At present, the reasons for the safety of new energy vehicles are complex.” On August 15, Meng Xiangfeng, assistant to the chairman of Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said at the 2020 China Automotive Forum. “From the perspective of the battery itself, from the heat of materials Technical breakthroughs have been made in the stability, high voltage resistance of single cells, and overcharge resistance. At the same time, the system integration focuses on the prevention of thermal diffusion of the system, and the internal short circuit caused by the manufacture of single cells is currently difficult to completely avoid. Improve and reduce the probability of accidents."
Xiaopeng G3 debuted. Data Tusuo Youwei
Car companies are also working to improve safety. In June of this year, Xiaopeng Motors applied to the State Intellectual Property Office for a patent on the protection method for thermal runaway electric vehicles. The patent description states that if the vehicle is thermally out of control, the system can automatically extinguish the power battery assembly through the on-board fire extinguishing device.
National standards also put forward higher requirements for vehicle safety. On May 13 this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued three mandatory national standards for electric vehicles in China. The battery system thermal diffusion test was added to the "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles". There will be no fire or explosion within 5 minutes, and a safe escape time is reserved for the crew.
Zhang Xiang pointed out that from the data point of view, new energy vehicles are less likely to catch fire than fuel vehicles. "If there is a fire, the company must also conduct a strict investigation to find out the cause of the fire. If it is a quality problem, it should be recalled. If it is not for quality reasons, it must be explained. Don't let the public dare not buy new energy vehicles because of misunderstanding." (End)